Beautiful Oblivion
by Brian Bloomfield
Summary: Sonic wakes up with missing memories in a world where Robotnik is dead and the freedom fighters are in celebration. But is all as it seems, or is someone trying to decieve Sonic? If so, for what purpose? And why can't Sonic leave Knothole? Please R


Beautiful Oblivion

A Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfiction Story

Written by Brian Bloomfield

Sonic slowly opened his eyes and looked around himself. He had a atrocious headache and was draped in total darkness, seeing nothing but inky blackness around him. He felt he was lying on something, relatively sure it was a bed. Very unsure of himself, he pushed himself upward. His back, knees, and elbows cracked, as if he had been lying still in the darkness for a long time.

'Was I sleeping?' The cerulean-colored hedgehog though to himself. 'I know my eyes were closed...but I don't remember closing them...wait...I remember something...I remember...white light...' Before the hedgehog could think anymore, the room was flooded with sunlight and Sonic quickly covered his eyes. He kept his eyes closed, but removed his hands so they could begin to adjust.

"Sonic? What are you doing up? You know the doc will kill you if he sees you out of bed!" A young-sounding person spoke to him, and it was a moment before Sonic, disoriented, could answer.

"Tails?" He asked with a fair amount of reservation in his voice.

"Yeah, who else?"

Sonic could now open his eyes and could see the kitsune come into focus. Then his stomach decided to start doing tricks and he quickly shut his eyes again. It felt like he was suffering from a hangover, a bad one. He raised a gloved hand to his forehead and rested his head in it.

"Are you alright, Sonic?" Sonic hears Tails ask. Sonic rolled forward and passed out on the floor. Tails stood there for a moment, then turned and walked away.

*****

Sonic woke in the same room now lit with fluorescence lights lining the ceiling. Dr. Quack was sitting on a orange chair by his bed. Sonic sat up, noting that his headache and stomach ills were now gone completely.

"Good morning, Sonic. I was wondering when you would wake up." The doctor spoke in a slightly southern accent that made Sonic relax, even though he hated doctors.

"What's up, Doc? Where am I?" Sonic asked, trying to level his voice, which was crackling. He needed a drink. Almost on cue, Dr. Quack leaned down and pulled a bottle of water out of the cabinet. He tossed it at Sonic, who caught the bottle. It was cold. Sonic opened it and drank almost half of it. He lowered the bottle from his lips and thanked the doctor.

"Now Sonic, to answer your second question, your in Knothole, in the clinic. When we attacked Robotropolis 4 days ago, you were hit in the head, hard. The first 24 hours I thought you wouldn't survive, but then the machines stabilized you. You've been out cold, and we were considering putting you in a stasis tube, but you woke up." Dr. Quack smiled. "Although your injury wasn't in vain. The attack was a success. Dr. Robotnik, along with Snively, is dead. The city has been taken offline, and we're going to rebuild, as soon as the celebration is over."

"...So, it's finally over...any causalities?"

"Besides Robotnik and Snively, no one died."

Sonic released a pent up breath in relieve. "That's excellent, Doctor. When can I leave?"

Dr. Quack smiled. "You can leave now. I finished the last of your medical test while you were out."

Thanking the doctor, he was quickly out of the room.

Dr. Quack stood there for a moment, then left the room.

*****

When Sonic walked out of the medical hut, the sounds of a village hit him like a splash of cool, refreshing water. He heard people yelling, shouting, laughing, all good sounds. He smelled food, smoke, wine, and the paticurly strong smell of flowers, all kinds, mingling in the spring air. He smiled. He saw Tails and Amy soar overhead, heading toward the ring pond.

"Tails has been doing that all day. Lifts them up, drops 'em in the center of the pond. Although I haven't tried it yet, it looks like fun, and he loves doing it." A light, youthful voice spoke behind him. It was Sally. She was wearing a yellow spring dress, golden bracelets, and a few orange flowers decorating her hair, in it's waved back styling.

Sonic first reaction was to look at her closely. 'Wow...' Was Sonic's only thought. She saw him looking at her and smiled in an affable manner. "Sonic..." He looked at her with a grin pasted on his face.

"Looking good. That's the first time I've seen you wear a dress." She blushed lightly.

"Well, this is a time of change, isn't it?" She moved slightly closer to him.

He mimicked her movement. "Yes, it is." They both leaned closer to each other.

And for the first time, no one interrupted then when they kissed.

*****

Sonic left Sally's hut right after dusk. He had proposed to her, and she accepted. There were to be married. He half-walked, half-floated down the path toward the ring pond. A few people passing him waved in greeting, him nodding serenely back at them. He reached the arcane pond, hidden from sight by trees. The moonlight permeated through the treetops, it's echoes lighting up the bottoms of the tree leaves. Sonic thought it to be a place with all the glory and splendor of the night sky. He sat on a boulder on the fair sands enveloping the pool of water. He sat there, thinking, until someone came up next to him. Even then, he really didn't care. He was still busy thinking.

"It really is a lovely view, isn't it?" Antoine said in a low voice to the hedgehog. Sonic merely nodded. "People should come and look at it more often, maybe then they wouldn't be so introverted." Sonic again nodded his head in agreement, finally coming in tune with what he was saying.

"It's natural to care about yourself, Ant. It's right alongside our instinct to survive." Sonic scooted over so Antoine could sit down, wanting someone to talk to suddenly.

And he didn't discern the fact that Antoine's accent had disappeared.

*****

The next morning he stopped by Rotor's workshop. The celebration was still ongoing. His and Sally's engagement had been announced, and that had been added to the list of reasons to celebrate. Sonic hadn't felt this alive in ages, but he believed it was time to get some serious work done. So, on his way to Sally's to talk about a scouting mission, he decided to stop and ask Rotor to fix his old location tracker, since he lost his other one. He walked into Rotor's workshop. Two things surprised him at once. The first being the appearance of Rotor. Instead of being like he usually was, carelessly dressed in what ever he grabbed, his appearance was immaculate. Fingernails cut and filed, hair slicked back and held in check with styling products, unsoiled black pants, a tucked in dress white dress shirt, ruby-colored tie, and a neatly pressed lab coat. He actually appeared to be a scientist. If that wasn't shocking enough, the lab in which Sonic stood was spotless, everything in boxes, or shelves, or in stacks on desks, or neatly layer out on a work bench. He stood his ground until Rotor spoke to him.

"Sonic, is there something I can help you with?" Rotor's glasses were finely polished to a crystal shine. This was too much for Sonic.

"Naa, just decided to drop by, say hi. I'll catch you later." Sonic darted out the open door.

Rotor just stood there, like a statue.

*****

"What do you mean, not yet? This is a prime time for a mission! Moral is soaring, I'm positive we'd get 100 volunteers. Why not?" Sonic asked his fiancée indignantly. She turned toward him and gave him a light smile.

"Honey, we just ended a 10 year war with a megalomaniac. I think everyone needs to unwind." She walked over and leaned against him. "And that includes us." Sonic couldn't resist. But even as they were heading into Sally's room, he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that something just wasn't _right._

*****

That afternoon, Sonic decided he wanted to go for a walk in the Great Forest to ease his nerves. Plus, it would give him time to himself, something he hadn't had in the past few days. He walked out of the northern entrance and just started wondering. He began to think about Rotor's workshop, and Sally's refusal for action. Neither made sense. Then, Fifteen minutes after his walk began, he ran into a minor...difficulty.

*****

As he continued to walk with his head hanging down, staring at the path intensely, he suddenly realized he could hear...children? This far out? He didn't think it possible, until he walked past a oddly familiar curve in the path.

Then he was back in Knothole. He slowly inched forward until he was near the group of children playing hackysack.

"Hello?" The children turned to face Sonic. They looked at him passively, apparently eager to get back to their game. "How do I get out of Knothole?"

The smallest child, a small raccoon, pointed past Sonic to where Sonic had just come into view. Without waiting for a answer, the children returned to their game.

Sonic was off racing back down the path on which he had came, tracing his original course. Five minutes later, his pace a quick jog, he came to another curve. When he walked past the concealing bushes, he saw a group of children playing hackysack.

*****

Sonic, his completion a lighter shade of cobalt then usual, barged into Uncle Chuck's office while he was on the phone. "I'll be with you in a minute, Sonny." Chuck said as he covered up the mouthpiece of the phone. Sonic snatched the phone with lightning speed and slammed it down in the cradle. Chuck looked at him for a second, then sighed. "Or, we can talk now. Same difference."

"Unc, ever since I woke up, something weird has been going down. Rotor's cleaned up, Sally can't keep away from me, Amy hasn't talked to me once, and-" Sonic was interrupted by Antoine.

"Chuck, I'll be a little late getting the new sub specs to you." Antoine said in perfect Mobian, with no accent. Chuck nodded and Antoine was on his way.

"And Antoine has lost his accent..." Sonic finished weakly. He collapsed into a green, overstuffed chair and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, Chuck was studying him. After a moment of them staring at each other, Chuck conceited. He turned his back to Sonic and began to speak.

"What would you say, Sonic, if I were to tell you were still in a coma of sorts. None of this is real. Not me, not Sally, no one. Except for you." He turned and looked at Sonic again. "What if I told you this is a program designed to keep you occupied. Because that's what I'm telling you." Sonic could tell by Chuck's deadpan face that he was serious. Sonic throat went fantastically dry.

"I'd say, tell me more." Sonic croaked out. Chuck turned to him.

"You were in a mission in Robotropolis with the freedom fighters. You were knocked off a rail platform by Antoine, who was working for Robotnik, and ran over by a train. You, along with the rest of the Freedom Fighters, were taken to the Robotization chamber. You were put into the machine, and that's where you are now. It reconstructed your neural pathways and began to Robotisize you. But a problem was encountered. Your years of exposure to abnormal forms of radiation, rings, chaos emeralds, etc, left you resistant to the process. So it's taking much longer then normal. Until the process is complete, you remain here, inside the robot's positronic brain, with us, programs designed to trick you. But unless you do something, and do it quick, the second the process is completed, Robotnik will upload a new mind, a robotic AI, that will force you into submission. But you can change that. This Knothole, this environment, is one of many inside your mind at the moment. One of those environments will allow you to override Robotnik's upload and load your own custom software. In this case, your mind." Chuck went silent.

Sonic was silent for a moment. His eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Then he took a deep breath. "If you work for Robotnik, why are you helping me?"

Chuck smiled. "Your Uncle is a Kind, Noble, and Eccentric person. That's how you remembered him, so that's how I am."

Sonic went silent again. Then a smile crossed his face. "What about all the things that changed?"

"You were so unhappy with those things that it would of interfered with the rest of our project. So, due to poor programming, they were simply left out. In essence, Robotnik hung himself."

Sonic nodded. It all made sense. He could never say that he trusted it 100%, but it was all he had. So he asked his last question. "How do I leave Knothole?"

"All you need to do is close you eyes, and not want to be there. That's all it takes."

Sonic nodded his head slowly. He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. When he opened them, thirty seconds later, he was sitting in darkness.

*****

****

Sonic

Walking...

Walking...

...I hate walking.

The one activity I can't stand, and here I am, doing it. Not that I really have a choice. I'd like to see you run around in total darkness.

Ah.

Wait a minute...

Light...Ok, now I guess I have a destination. Now I can run. Something I'm good at.

...

...

...

Wow, this place is far... I've been running for 5 minutes and it's only a little closer...hmmm...ok, screw this, I'm stopping! How far can this place be? Wait...didn't the...other hedgehog say all I needed to do was want to be there? Well, It's worth a try I guess. I close my eyes...

And I want to be in the light...

*****

Sonic opened his eyes and found he was standing inside a circle of light cast onto the cold, steel floor by a invisible light hung on a equally out of sight ceiling. Right in front of him, sitting on what looked like a marble pedestal, was a smooth, pearl white sphere. Light danced on it's surface, even thought the lighting was stationary. In solid black, odd looking letters:

00AA1 PROGRAM LOAD/START ACTIVE : 95% COMPLETE

Sonic guessed that this was the program that was going to control his mind, unless he did something. As he was watching, the counter jumped from 95 to 97. Without thinking, he lashed out, striking the pulsating orb and knocking over the pedestal with it. They both shattered like crystal when they struck the floor. Lights flared to life around him.

"Warning: Loading program interrupted. Resuming in 30 seconds." A monotonic voice announced. Sonic quickly took in his surroundings. He was still in the same room, only now walls on four sides were visible. And the sight against the west wall truly shocked him. It was his body, horrible mutilated, inside a stasis tube. Next to the tube was a small, dark console. He walked over to it tepidly. On the console was a large, red button marked, "Push to Close".

"Well," Sonic said to himself darkly. "I guess I don't have a choice." He pushed the button. Before the sensation of touching the button could travel through his nervous system halfway through his wrist, there was a blindingly brilliant flare of bluish-white light, then total darkness.

*****

"Sir, Robotisization procedure is complete." Snively reported to Robotnik in his shrill voice. Robotnik stood from his chair and walked over to the fog-filled glass tube. He turned to look at the five frightened freedom fighters standing across the room, chained against the wall.

"After all this time, all the years of pain and sorrow I've put you through, all the agony you've been through on my behalf, it's time to end this silly little...police action of yours. Behold the tool of your downfall, robot 52194563-SX A.K.A..." The pushed a control and the tube slid up into the upper console, releasing the mist into the room. "...Banshee."

*****

****

Sonic

I see the tube slid open and the smoke drain out of the chamber. I slowly become aware of new body parts, my gun arm, my rocket packs on my back and feet. The fog finishes clearing and I can see Tails, Sally, Amy, Rotor, and St. John. They look...frightened. Unbelievably frightened. I guess I would be too if I was in their position, but that can be dealt with later. Right now I'm going to deal with his fatness. I turn my head slightly and look at him. Jesus, he's staring at me and licking his lips. Creepy, to say the least. Oh well. In a minute their won't be much of his face left, anyway. I force myself to play servant.

"How may I serve you master?" I say in the robot's monotone drone. He begins to cackle with delight...I really want to punch him, but I'm restraining myself. He stops laughing and points to Sally.

"Kill her." He says simply. Gee, let me think...um...no. But still, I'll play alone. Here I go.

*****

Sonic walked carefully over to Sally, who had begun to shake with terror. Sonic activates his gun arm and positions it a few centimeters from her head. She suddenly goes rock steady and spits on Sonic's face plate.

"Go to hell." She says in a icy voice. Sonic didn't seem to react, but Sally saw his left hand, still in normal mode, move slightly. She looked down at it and was shocked by what she saw. He was giving her the hand signal to duck. He spun as soon as he saw her eyes widen in recognition and aimed for Robotnik. A look of surprise barely touched his features when Sonic planted a bullet between his eyes. A half second later, Sonic gave Snively the same gift while he was raising a gun. Sonic then spun around while switching to his heavy machine gun and took out the Swat-bots lined against the opposite wall, charging their weapons. He converted his weapon to a torch and cut the freedom fighters chains. They just stood there in shock.

"Well, come on, damnit!" Sonic screeched at them in his monotone voice. That broke their stupor and they followed him into one of the electrical access tubes. They emerged outside the city gates 5 minutes later.

"Wait." Sonic said as they were climbing into the Tornado aircraft parked away from the city. "Where did Antoine go when you were taken to the Robotisizer?"

Sally thought for a moment. "Medical Lab in 21-Alpha. Why?"

Sonic activated his boosters and floated in midair for a moment, before speaking to Sally and the rest, who were now looking at him with interest. "I've got something to take care of. I'll meet you in Knothole later tonight. I'm also getting the genetic cards from the robotisizor for Bunnie, Chuck and I. Rotor," He spoke to the walrus, turning toward him. "Have the de-robotisizer ready. I'll see you all tonight." He turned and flew back into the city, towards sector 21-Alpha.

*****

"Computer, where iz Dr. Robotnik?" Antoine asked the computer for what seemed to him the thousandth time.

"Unknown." The computer responded for the thousandth time. The computer had no way of knowing that Dr. Robotnik lay dead in Robotisizer bay 1. Neither did Antoine for that matter. He was ordered to medical by Robotnik for injuries from getting beat down my Tails on the train platform earlier. As soon at he had shoved that blue menace forward, the little two-tailed imbecile had sprung and began to pummel Antoine. He had knocked out two of his teeth and crushed his nose.

'I'll make sure Robo-Tails first duty is sewer maintenance. That'll fix 'em good, the little-" His thoughts of power were interrupted by the door opening. He turned toward the door with a grin on his face.

"Took the bucket of bolts long enough-" His train of thought was instantly disconnected by Sonic walking through the door. Antoine looked down and saw that his gun was activated.

"Hi, 'Twan. Miss me?" Sonic asked the now terrified Antoine, quickly backing into a corner.

"No." Antoine whispered to himself, closing his eyes. "No no nononoNO!" He opened his eyes again to see the menacing robot still creeping toward him. Antoine began breathing deeply. "Your dead, I killed you. Robotnik robotisized your body."

Sonic slowly shook his head no. "Ant Ant Ant, you failed! Just like you fail at everything! If you knew the first thing about Robotisization, you would know the machine had to fix my head before it could do anything! But no, your a moron, both because you trusted Robotnik and because you betrayed me and everyone else on the planet. That's why your going to die." Antoine didn't even see it coming. All he saw was a flash, all he heard was a bang, and all he felt was a great bit of irritation at Sonic the Hedgehog.

*****

"Tails, activate energy dampers." Rotor ordered his apprentice, standing at a control panel across from Rotor.

"Dampening field at 100%. We are ready to begin the process." Between the two consoles and their technicians, Sonic stood in the clear tube of the experimental de-robotisizer.

"Activating." Rotor said as he tapped out a command on his keyboard. Suddenly the tube was filled with a goldish-white light and a loud humming filled the room. A minute later the tube opened and fog rolled out. Sonic was bent over coughing. He straightened back up and took a deep breath.

"Whew! That was a fucking ride, let me tell you!" Sonic exclaimed. Sally ran over and grabbed him into a tight hug.

"Don't ever leave me again." She whispered into his ear. He responded by kissing her.

*****

Sonic had snuck out of his hut in the middle of the night, He wanted to get some fresh air, give himself some time to wind down from the days events. They were leaving for Robotropolis tomorrow at dawn to assess the total damage to the city and to shut down the city's reactors. Sonic was about to go back to his hut and get some sleep when he saw something past a pair of bushes that chilled him to his very soul. He saw a group of children playing hackysack.

The End


End file.
